Character creation guidelines
"Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief." '' -Edmund Burke, A letter to a member of the National Assembly. This article details the guidelines for creating new characters. For a starter you are referred to the section on character creation in "Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniverssary Edition". However since the campaign is about playing characters that are now Elders, this book does not contain sufficient information on how to create an adequate character. This article should supply the necessary information to create a character. There are also a series of backgrounds, merits and flaws that are unique to elder characters. NB: though you are referred to "Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniverssary Edition", do note that your character starts out more powerful than the standard neonate. most of the information in this article is modified from the campire supplement: "Elysium the Elder ways" (Frequently referred to as: "Elysium the Elder Wars") This article was last update to the year of our lord: '''1800' General guidelines Sect: Camarilla or Sabbat Clans or Bloodlines: Brujah, Gangrel, Nosferatu, Malkavian, Toreador, Lasombra, Assamite, Tzimisce, Tremere, Ventrue, Ravnos, Giovanni, Followers of Set. Maybe some weird bloodlines.... Restricted or Limited Backgrounds: No such thing as a Black Hand Membership Restricted Disciplines or Paths: Rare or out-of-Clan Disciplines specific to a Clan (such as Vicissitude and Thaumaturgy) are Storyteller approval. Only some Thaumaturgy paths are available at character creation. Merits and Flaws Allowed?: Yes, but only two Merits/Flaws at character creation. All are taken only with storyteller approval. Creation Elder Characters In creating an Elder character, the player should decide approximately how old his character is, and the original social milleu of the character. This is important since kindred have a tendency to be "snapshots" of the time and place in which they were embraced, and even if they are not, or try to fight it. The time and place of their mortal lives is more than likely to affect their way of thinking, and their way of seeing things. For example a kindred who was in life a medieval wise man of a free Romanian commune is unlikely to have the same worldview as a kindred who was embraced a French Aristocrat in the 17th century. When creating an elder character, the player should create a "memoir" that details the unlife of the character up to the point where the character enters play. A memoir most obviously takes the form of a journal or diary of sorts. The simplest and quickest way of creating one, is to draw up a 3-4 page timeline, outlining when and where the character has been involved in significant events, throughout his exsistence. Of course players should feel free to create far more elaborate memoirs written from the perspective of the Elder character, and to go into great detail about the events the character has witnessed and the people he has met, seduced, destroyed or perhaps saved. These questions are a guideline as to what a player must be able to answer about the Elder character: #'When and where were you born?' #'What important events did you participate in as a mortal?' #'Who were your mortal family, friends and enemies?' #'When were you reborn as Kindred, and who was your sire?' #'What important places in the world have you visited and when?' #'What historical events, both kindred and kine have you witnessed or participated in?' #'What historical figures or events have you influenced or been influenced by?' #'What salons, courts and social circles, both Kindred and kine have you participated in?' #'What are/were your entanglements? ' #'Enemies - Who and why, are they still existing? '''Destroyed? #'Allies - Who and why, are they still existing?' Destroyed? #'Political influence/involvement - what and where? ' #'Prestation - who, how and when?' (Explain current and past incidents of prestation, both by you and for you, and any current outstanding prestation balances. see prestation merit/flaw.) #'When and where have you gone into torpor''' (if at all?) #'Who, if anyone, knows any of your secrets?' #'Whose secrets do you know?' #'What political powers, Kindred and kine do you currently control or influence'? #'If you have childer, when and why were they sired? '''Were your childer lawfully sired? #'Who are your childer and what is the state of your relationship with them?' '''Note:' that the answering of these questions is not voluntary, if you want to create an elder character (i.e: start more powerful) then you must be able to provide answers to these questions, in a written form. The answering of these questions can be considered the minimum amount of work necessary to play an elder character. NB: please keep background stories below 10 pages. Rules for Elder Characters Here are the some of the rules, that useful in creating Elder characters. Even if you choose not to put any dots in Age, your character will still be considered an Ancilla (somewhere between 55 and 110 years of unlife). If you do not wish to make use of these rules you can create an ordinary ancilla (age 50-80 years) and use the same character creation rules but subtract 1 "fluent" attribute point, 1 point from primary, secondary and tertiary abilities as well as a "fluent" dot, 1 discipline point, 3 background points and 2 freebiepoints.) As an additional benefit to this decision you will not have to answer question 10-19, and your background can be delivered orally. Additionally you do not have to start with a derangement. if you choose to use this option your character is not subject to any rules that apply specifically to elders (e.g: elder status, elder generation, ability to begin play with out-of-clan disciplines easily and so on...) Elder characters are more powerful from the beginning and as such start with higher trait ratings. This increased power level is modified from "Elysium the Elder Ways" and "Archons and Templars": Attributes: Characters receive the usual complement of Attributes (7 dots for primary, 5 for secondary and 3 for tertiary). plus 3 additional dots to allocate as they wish. no attribute may exceed 5 , even if your generation allows it. Abilities: ''' Characters receive the usual complement of Abilities (14 dots for primary, 10 for secondary and 6 for tertiary). plus 4 additional dots to allocate as they wish. This may not exceed 4, unless increased further by freebies. '''Disciplines: Camarilla Characters recieve 6 dots of Disciplines, While Sabbat characters recieve 7 dots of Disciplines. five of the dots must be put into clan Disciplines; the sixth (and seventh) may be put into an out of clan discipline if you wish. In theory it is possible to put 5 dots into the same discipline if you wish, but being so onesided is something very few kindred can afford. (though it does happen.) Backgrounds: Camarilla characters recieve 10 dots of backgrounds, while Sabbat characters recieve 7 dots. This is to Reflect the greater involvement in the material world, that vampires of greater age is likely to have. Camarilla more so than Sabbat. Virtues: Camarilla characters receive seven dots to distribute among their Virtues ; Sabbat characters receive six. While the Sabbat's relative fondness for mayhem and depravity does not exactly exalt virtue, Sabbat officials are generally made of sterner stuff than the average vato . The usual restrictions apply if you choose a Path of Enlightenment for your character instead of a Humanity Trait . That is, the Conviction and Instinct Virtues do not come with a free starting dot, and the character that takes either or both must buy them up to at least 1 . Starting characters with a Path of Enlightenment must take at least five dots in Willpower and they begin play with a Path rating no higher than 5 (even if Conscience/Conviction + Self-Control/Instinct totals more than 5) . If your character is an ancilla or elder with a long history of following his Path (in which case you will also need to buy the Age Background and fill in the relevant backstory), your Storyteller may at her option permit you to spend freebies to buy your Path rating higher than 5 . Last Touches: Everything else proceeds per the normal rules for starting characters . Starting Willpower equals the character's Courage rating . Starting Humanity or Path rating equals Conscience/Conviction + Self-Control/Instinct (to a maximum of 5 for Path followers, as above). Starting blood pool may be rolled or chosen, per the Storyteller's direction . If your character has a noteworthy Herd rating and begins the chronicle in her home city, for instance, there's no real reason for her to start the game with a 2 blood pool unless that makes for a dramatic opening . Roll a die for, or choose, Vinculum ratings for Sabbat characters. Assign Merits and Flaws if you and the Storyteller so desire. Finally you receive 20 freebie points to round out your character as you see fit, in addition to any freebie points gained by Flaws or the Age Background. Age Background: The age background represents that are character is older than the norm for starting characters, and thus has greater power. Note that the background does have more than 2 levels, but only the first 2 are available at present, and as such they are the only ones reprinted here. more levels will be added as they become available. Also note that a character with dots in this background pay 5 freebie points to increase his humanity/path and 4 freebies to raise virtues, this applies only at character creation, (or any time additional freebies are acquired.) #Young Elder: 121-200 years active: +30 freebie points -1 humanity/path #Elder: 201-350 years active: +55 freebie points -2 humanity/path Elder Generation: Older Kindred are frequently of a lower generation than the usual rabble of the Kindred to represent this Older characters without any dots of the generation background are considered to be 11th generation. By allocating dots in this background it is possible to start out as a member of a lower generation. However, the blood of more ancient vampires is highly sought by those Kindred willing to commit the sin of diablerie. Characters of lower generation are inevitably targeted by such typer (or other beings equally interested) for the promise of greater power for themselves. Thus, chracters with more than a few dots in this Background have enemies hunting after their blood. This, of course, does not preclude any other enemies interested in destroying the chracter for other reasons! The modified Generation Background for elders is presented here. Note that this only applies to characters who are actually elders or at least powerful ancillae. #10th generation, no enemies out for your blood #9th generation, 1 minor enemy #8th generation, 2 minor enemies #7th generation, 1 major enemy Derangements: In addition to these things, your character starts out with a derangement, from the beginning, this reflects the way that elder vampires tend to mentally unhinge as they go along. A list of Merits and flaws that are applicable to these characters can be found in dropbox. Category:Rules Category:Guidelines Category:Character Creation